This photograph is significant because it is one of the few surviving hand-painted ambrotypes with links to Australia. While millions of these ambrotype photographs were produced around the world and many thousands in Australia remarkably few have survived that can be linked to Australian society during the 1850s and 1860s. Although the sitter in the portrait is currently unidentified the museum recognises the importance of maintaining its collection of ambrotypes as examples of the fashion and early photographic processes in Australia in this period. It is also hoped that research may at some future date identify the sitter in this photograph.

Geoff Barker, Curatorial, September 2009

In 1851 Frederick Scott Archer announced the discovery of a new photographic process that could adhere to glass. This was a major breakthrough in the story of photography for the process made clear highly detailed negatives form which multiple copies could be made.

The general public had become used to their photographic portraits being taken using a daguerreotype process which were displayed in a small glass fronted case. To compete with this trade a special kind of collodion process, known as the ambrotype was introduced. This was essentially the same as other collodion negatives except that once the exposure had been taken the emulsion on the glass was bleached to whiten it. When this bleached negative was placed in a case against a black background it formed a positive image which bore a remarkable resemblance to the daguerreotype except it had the added advantage of not being highly reflective.

Australia followed rather than set photographic trends but in the 1850s, the massive boom caused by the discovery of gold ensured it was very quick to take up new processes like the ambrotype. Over the 1850s the ambrotype replaced the daguerreotype as the preferred method of taking portraits but even in the late 1850s daguerreotypes were still being made for more conservative customers.

Geoff Barker, Curatorial, September 2009

References
J. Cato, The Story of the Camera in Australia, Third Edition, Institute of Australian Photography, Hong Kong, 1979
Michel Frizot, A New History of Photography, Amilcare Pizzi, Milan, 1998
Helmut and Alison Gernsheim, A Concise History of Photography, Thames and Hudson, Germany, 1965
A. Davies and P. Stanbury, 1985, The Mechanical Eye in Australia, Oxford University Press, Melbourne

Photographic positive, hand-painted ambrotype mounted in case, studio portrait of a Royal Navy Lieutenant or Sub-Lieutenant, collodion / paint / glass / wood / paper / metal / velvet, photographer unknown, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 1856-1870

An ambrotype showing a 3/4 length portrait of a Naval Officer photographed seated in a studio setting. The man wears a Naval uniform consisting of a doubled breasted coat. The man rests his arm on a small table next to him. The mans naval cap can be seen sitting on the table.The portrait has been hand coloured with the buttons and braid on the man's coat in gold. The ambrotype is framed by an oval brass mat. A glass panel sits over the top of the brass mat and thin brass binding holds the ambrotype, brass mat and glass cover together. The framed ambrotype then sits in a case made from wood that has been covered in leather. The lid to the case has detached and is missing and two sides of the case have also been damaged and are missing.

Made: 1856 - 1870

H5735

1856 - 1870

115 mm